Your next breakthrough isn't in new data, it's in the data you already have
Most research budgets tell the same story. New study commissioned, fresh data collected, latest insights presented. Meanwhile, last year's customer interviews sit unopened in someone's drive.
Research teams know those conversations hold value, yet the pressure to deliver something new pushes them toward fresh studies while valuable insights gather digital dust. It's a cycle that costs money and misses opportunities sitting in plain sight.
The pattern repeats across industries: substantial investments flowing toward fresh data collection when breakthrough moments often hide in information already captured.
What if the most valuable insights live in conversations you've already had?
Leena Doshi, Senior Manager of Research at Electronic Arts, shared a framework during a recent Insightful Inspiration conversation with Isabelle Landreville that explains why this happens and how to fix it. She discusses the difference between puzzles and mysteries in business - and once you understand it, everything changes about how you approach research investment.
How Febreze found $230 million in old tapes
In the early 1990s, Procter & Gamble had a product that should have been a home run. Their air freshener worked perfectly in labs, marketing felt confident, but sales crashed.
The team faced mounting pressure to figure out what went wrong. They could have commissioned expensive new consumer research, thrown more money at the problem, and hoped fresh data would reveal the answer. Instead, they did something simpler: they hired a Harvard researcher to watch old customer interview footage they'd already shot and shelved.
The insight was sitting right there in those tapes. Customers kept saying their homes smelled fine, genuinely believing they didn't need an odour-eliminating product. That one observation changed everything.
P&G repositioned Febreze as the perfect finishing touch after cleaning, the satisfying final step that says you're done. Sales doubled by 1999 and reached over $230 million. No new research required, just human intelligence applied to conversations that already existed.
When business mysteries need different thinking
Doshi's framework explains why the Febreze approach worked so well. Some business challenges are puzzles with clear solutions and straightforward paths, while others are mysteries that are messier, more complex, and without obvious answers.
"When you don't know what you don't know, you start with what you have," Doshi explained.
Febreze was a mystery, not a puzzle. P&G couldn't commission targeted research because they hadn't identified the real problem yet, so starting with existing data gave them somewhere to begin exploring.
This thinking protects budgets from expensive guesswork. Instead of casting wide nets hoping to catch something useful, you build understanding from concrete conversations already captured. Mysteries require patience and the wisdom to see what others miss in information you already own.
The cultural twist that saved BlackBerry
Years ago, BlackBerry launched across Canada, marketing their devices as productivity tools for staying connected to work, great for efficiency, perfect for always being reachable.
English Canada responded well while Quebec sales lagged significantly behind.
The marketing team could have commissioned extensive new cultural research. Focus groups in Montreal, ethnographic studies, surveys about work-life balance preferences. Instead, they took a step back and examined existing market data through cultural eyes.
The insight was already there. Quebecers valued clear boundaries between work and personal life, and the productivity pitch actually pushed them away because it threatened those boundaries.
BlackBerry repositioned their devices as social connection tools, ways for friends and family to stay in touch throughout the day. Quebec sales responded immediately. The relief was immediate - the answer had been sitting in their data all along, waiting for someone to ask the right cultural question.
Building smarter research budget habits
Most organisations unconsciously place more value on new research than existing analysis. This bias costs money and misses opportunities sitting in plain sight.
Start by auditing information you already possess: customer interviews from recent projects, market analyses gathering dust in shared drives, survey results filed away after initial presentations. Ask different questions of the same conversations.
When stakeholders request fresh studies, challenge the assumption that newer automatically means better. What existing data might already address their business challenges? Sometimes the most valuable insights come from applying today's questions to yesterday's conversations.
The goal here isn't avoiding new research entirely. Smart allocation starts with what you know before spending on what you don't. Mysteries unfold gradually that require human intelligence to spot patterns others miss in data already captured.
The human advantage in seeing more
At Sylvestre & Co., we've spent 50 years learning that breakthrough insights often live in conversations you've already had. Our clients consistently find greater value through deeper understanding of information already gathered. Cultural intelligence helps organisations see what others miss in existing research, maximising every dollar invested.
Understanding your customers remains the ultimate business advantage, and it just might not require the expensive new study you're planning.
Ready to uncover what's already waiting to be heard? At Sylvestre & Co., we help teams find the insights hiding in their existing research - so every dollar works harder and work life gets easier for everyone involved. Contact us to explore how our cultural intelligence can transform the data you already own.
Insightful Inspiration features discussions with thought leaders in research, strategy, and cultural understanding. Listen to the full conversation with Leena Doshi on our website, where 50 years of human-centred expertise comes to life.
